Chevron, the US oil group, has raised sharply its expectation of future oil prices and cut its target for production growth, as it highlighted the steep rise in costs in the industry.

美国石油企业雪佛龙(Chevron)大幅调高了其对未来油价的预期，同时下调了产量增长目标。该公司强调石油行业成本大幅上涨。

John Watson, chief executive, told analysts at a meeting in New York that the company was “bullish on oil” because of output declines at mature fields, political constraints on production in many parts of the world and the rising cost of finding and developing new oilfields.

雪佛龙首席执行官约翰•沃森(John Watson)在纽约的一个会议上对分析师们表示，该公司“预计油价看涨”，主要原因在于成熟油田的产出下降，全球很多地方的石油开采受到政治因素制约，以及勘探开发新油田的成本上涨。

Chevron has raised the price assumption it uses when setting out its projections for investors from $79 per barrel for Brent crude to $110 per barrel, its average over the past three years.

雪佛龙在编制面向投资者的业绩预期时，调高了所用的油价假设值，将布伦特原油的预估价格从每桶79美元上调到每桶110美元，这是油价在过去三年的平均值。

That is significantly higher than is implied by the futures market, which shows that the price of oil is expected to fall. Mr Watson said higher prices would have a positive “overall earnings impact” for Chevron, offsetting its weaker expectations for production growth.

这显著高于期货市场所预示的水平；从期货市场的行情看，市场预计油价将下跌。沃森称，油价走高对于雪佛龙的“整体利润水平将带来积极提振”，抵消该公司调低产出增长预期的影响。

The company, the second-largest US oil group by market capitalisation, now expects to produce 3.1m barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2017, down from a target 3.3m boe/d it set in 2010 and reiterated a year ago.

按照市值计算，雪佛龙是美国第二大石油企业。该公司预计2017年的日产量将达到310万桶油当量，低于该公司2010年设定、并于1年前重申的日产量目标——330万桶油当量。